Re: Louis Castle, cofounder of Westwood Studios, long form interview...

On Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:19:10 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXbXwDsasgs (2 hrs.)
>
He talked about Dune 2, Command and Conquer, Blade Runner, The Lion
King, Aladdin, W95's Monopoly, CA Games, EA (boo), etc. It's really good
and interesting like how they did the video compressions games, ran out
of CDs for C&C (I bought it right away from a local Egghead store with
two of my college friends at full retail price!), etc.

<Ramble mode=fondly reminiscent>

The first I became aware of Westwood as a studio was probably the
"Kyrandia" games. It's not that I hadn't played any of their games
prior to that ("Eye of the Beholder" and "Battletech: Crescent Hawks
Inception" were in my playlist long before Kyrandia was released;
others maybe too). But a lot of those earlier projects were done under
the auspices of a larger publisher ("Battletech" was an Infocom game;
"Eye of the Beholder" was published by SSI). It was "Kyrandia" that
was -at least in my eyes- the game that set Westwood up as its own
shop, with its own unique look.

And what a look! Compared to its contemporaries, the Kyrandia games
were GORGEOUS. The pixel-art was bright and over-saturated, and the
detailing was incredible (they did flame, water and glistening eyes
better than anyone!). Their animations weren't particularly special,
the gameplay was fairly humdrum, and their stories were mediocre, but
-boy oh boy- the visuals were amazing. Westwood also stood apart with
its incredible musical scores, and they were early adopters of
full-speech 'talkie' games. Westwood didn't skimp on the voice-acting
either; yes, it was always a bit over-the-top, but always in a very
enjoyable way.




Of course, Westwood's big break was really "Dune II: A Building of a
Dynasty", and that's the brand that truly made the company. They
created the modern incarnation of real-time strategy games. I was
never fond of "Dune II" in regards to its gameplay, but once again I
was floored by its production values. That intro still resonates, 32
years later; it's that good.

The Command & Conquer games propelled Westwood to stardom, but also
sealed their fate. Once again, it was the production values that made
the game so memorable; oh, it had good gameplay too, but the sound!
The music! Even the installer was a tour de force! But these creations
were expensive to produce, and it forced the company into the hands of
Electronic Arts... where good developers go to die. It took almost a
decade, but by signing that deal, Westwood sealed their fate.



Their last hurrah was, of course, "Blade Runner"; a return to form,
one last ambitious adventure game. It had all the hallmarks of a
Westwood title; amazing production values, some innovative gameplay
elements... and just a bit annoying to play (I in particular didn't
like the randomized and time-sensitive elements of the game). But it
was amazing to look at, and captured the feel of the Bladerunner
franchise incredibly well.



After that... well, technically Westwood survived for a while, as a
renamed studio in the EA clubhouse (rebranded 'EA Los Angeles',
because why give them an interesting name?), but the soul of the game
had been leeched out. They cranked out sequels and spin-offs to the
Command & Conquer games, each one less exciting than the next. Even
their occasional non-C&C projects --like NOX-- seemed makeshift and
follow-the-leader attempts, rather than blazing the trail with
innovative gameplay and stunning visuals. They had some successes
despite themselves (we'll always remember Tim Curry giggling
performance as he announced his escape to "Spaaace" in Red Alert 3)
but these all seemed despite Westwood's efforts, and not because of
them.

When EA finally announced the closure of the studio, it was almost a
relief. The tired old horse was no longer being flogged; gog have
mercy.

But I still look back fondly at Kyrandia, and how it amazed me with
how good video games could look and sound. Thank you for those
memories, Westwood.


</ramble>